Depp organises Gonzo blast

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Hunter S Thompson and Johnny Depp at the premier of the film adaptation of Thompson's book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in New York in 1998.Photo: AP

Friends and family of the late US gonzo journalist Hunter S
Thompson are preparing to pepper the sky with his ashes.

His cremated remains will be shot into the air on August 20 from
a cannon installed on a 45-metre-high tower behind his home in
Woody Creek, Colorado.

The 67-year-old Thompson, who had been in failing health, shot
himself at his home on February 20 after a long and flamboyant
career.

Johnny Depp, a close friend of Thompson, has hired a Beverly
Hills events planner to oversee the event, which will be closed to
the public.

"Hunter meant a lot to me. He was another hero and someone that
I got to know very well because I played him in Fear and
Loathing in Las Vegas. We got very, very close," Depp said
recently.

"He was a great pal, one of my best friends. We had talked a
couple of times about his last wishes to be shot out of a cannon of
his own design. All I'm doing is trying to make sure his last wish
comes true. I just want to send my pal out the way he wants to go
out," the 42-year-old actor said.

Anita Thompson, the writer's widow, said a public commemoration
of Thompson would be held later.